1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to brick making machines, and more particularly, to mobile brick making machines which produce adobe brick blocks in such a manner that minimum handling of the moist adobe bricks is required.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Adobe bricks are made of alluvial clay which is abundant in many parts of the world, especially in the Southwestern portion of the United States. Where this type of clay is in plentiful supply, it has long been the practice to make adobe building blocks by mixing the clay with water and straw and various other materials, compressing this mixture into blocks, and then permitting the blocks to harden by baking and drying them in the sun. Adobe blocks have been used for residential dwellings for many years in the Southwest part of the United States. Other structures made of adobe have been utilized in the Southwest portion of the United States for centuries. The use of adobe blocks has many advantages. For example, adobe blocks can be economical to manufacture, since the basic material, the alluvial clay, is cheap and plentiful. Further, adobe blocks have excellent insulating and heat retention properties which are superior to those of most building materials. Many buildings composed of adobe are still standing and are still in use after several hundred years of use and exposure to the elements. It has been conventional practice to make adobe blocks by hand. However, with increasing labor costs and increasing demand for adobe blocks, their cost has increased to the point where adobe blocks are not as commonly used as they once were and are in fact more expensive than conventional masonry building blocks.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a machine and method for making adobe building blocks at a high rate of speed.
It is another object of the invention to provide a machine and method for making adobe building blocks, which machine and method requires minimum amounts of manual labor.
A further object of the invention is to provide a machine for making blocks from a material having a high degree of plasticity and requiring minimum handling of blocks so produced until the produced blocks have properly cured.
Several machines and processes for making adobe bricks have been proposed in order to reduce the labor costs previously involved in making adobe bricks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,105 discloses a very complex machine which excavates soil or clay to be used in the process of making the adobe bricks, mixes the constituent components of the adobe bricks, adding water and stabilizer materials, and forms bricks by spreading wet adobe material or mud deposited from a hopper of the machine into a mold box, which molds a set of blocks. The mold box is then raised, depositing the set of molded blocks on the recently excavated ground. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,142,105 is unduly complex and costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,040 discloses a mobile adobe brick making machine which excavates soil and extrudes bricks which are discharged out of an opening, and must be received from the opening and placed on the ground or elsewhere for curing. This device requires handling of each extruded moist adobe brick in order to place it in an appropriate location for drying and curing, and also requires one or more operators to operate the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,409 discloses another adobe brick making machine which extrudes and forms adobe brick. The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,225,409 requires handling of each adobe brick immediately after it is formed in order to remove the brick from the machine and place the brick for drying and curing.
Accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide an adobe brick making machine which obviates the need for handling of adobe blocks after they are formed by the machine but before they are dryed and cured.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an adobe brick making machine and method which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.
A novelty search directed to the present invention uncovered the following additional patents, none of which meet the presently unmet requirements of the adobe brick making art: U.S. Pat. Nos. 739,881; 1,771,660; 3,283,051; 1,973,092; and 3,774,890.